Facsimile apparatus and printing method with cleaning of ink-jet nozzles based on print resolution of received image or telephone number of sender

Abstract

The invention provides a facsimile apparatus that includes: a receiving section that receives facsimile data; a print head that discharges ink from nozzles so as to print out an image; a cleaning unit that cleans the nozzles of the print head; and a controlling section that controls the operations of the print head and the cleaning unit. In such a configuration of the facsimile apparatus according to an aspect of the invention, the controlling section commands the print head to perform facsimile printing by means of the received facsimile data only after the execution of nozzle-cleaning operations, which are executed by the cleaning unit under the control of the controlling section, if it is judged on the basis of the print image resolution of the received facsimile data that the execution of the nozzle-cleaning operations is necessary.

1. A facsimile apparatus comprising:
 a receiving section that receives facsimile data; 
 a print head that discharges ink from nozzles so as to print out an image; 
 a cleaning unit that cleans the nozzles of the print head; and 
 a controlling section that controls the operations of the print head and the cleaning unit, 
 wherein the controlling section commands the print head to perform facsimile printing by means of the received facsimile data only after the execution of nozzle-cleaning operations, which are executed by the cleaning unit under the control of the controlling section, if it is judged on the basis of the print image resolution of the received facsimile data that the execution of the nozzle-cleaning operations is necessary. 
 
     
     
       2. The facsimile apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controlling section controls the operations of the print head so as to offer a plurality of print-image-resolution modes that includes at least a high print-image-resolution mode; and the controlling section commands the cleaning unit to execute the nozzle-cleaning operations if the print image resolution of the received facsimile data is set in the high print-image-resolution mode. 
     
     
       3. A facsimile apparatus comprising:
 a receiving section that receives facsimile data; 
 a print head that discharges ink from nozzles so as to print out an image; 
 a cleaning unit that cleans the nozzles of the print head; 
 a controlling section that controls the operations of the print head and the cleaning unit; 
 a storing section that stores setting data in which a telephone number and set information are associated with each other, the set information indicating whether to execute or not the nozzle-cleaning of the print head upon reception of facsimile data from a sender that corresponds to the telephone number; and 
 a judging section that compares the telephone number of the sender of the received facsimile data and the setting data that is read out of the storing section so as to make a judgment as to whether the cleaning unit should execute the nozzle-cleaning operations or not, 
 wherein the controlling section commands the print head to perform facsimile printing by means of the received facsimile data only after the execution of nozzle-cleaning operations, which are executed by the cleaning unit under the control of the controlling section, if it is judged by the judging section that the execution of the nozzle-cleaning operations is necessary. 
 
     
     
       4. A facsimile-printing method used by a facsimile apparatus that has a print head that discharges ink from nozzles so as to print out an image; the facsimile-printing method comprising:
 cleaning the nozzles of the print head upon the reception of facsimile data if it is judged on the basis of the print image resolution of the received facsimile data that the execution of the nozzle-cleaning operations is necessary; and 
 performing facsimile printing by means of the received facsimile data after the cleaning of the nozzles of the print head. 
 
     
     
       5. A facsimile-printing method used by a facsimile apparatus that has a print head that discharges ink from nozzles so as to print out an image; the facsimile-printing method comprising:
 receiving facsimile data; 
 judging whether to execute the nozzle-cleaning of the print head or not on the basis of a telephone number of a sender of the received facsimile data; 
 cleaning the nozzles of the print head if it is judged that the execution of the nozzle-cleaning operations is necessary; and 
 performing facsimile printing by means of the received facsimile data after the cleaning of the nozzles of the print head.